UB and Canisius: A new approach to managing hazardous waste sites

Submitted

An engineer, a
philosopher, a sociologist and an oral historian walk into a room.

It's not the start of a
one-liner. Instead, it's the unusual mix of academics working on a new approach
for the long-term management of hazardous waste sites in the U.S.

Often called brownfields
or superfund sites, these are former steel mills, oil refineries, old military
bases and other contaminated grounds that threaten public health. With
thousands nationwide, the estimated cleanup cost, already billions of dollars,
continues to climb.

The traditional method
is to focus on technological solutions based on cost and their potential to
improve public health. But a research team from the University at Buffalo and
Canisius College argues that, in many cases, that decision-making paradigm is
not an adequate way to examine the problems associated with hazardous waste
sites.

For example, it doesn't
typically consider if the potential solution is sustainable or whether it will
create more problems for future generations. It also doesn't lead us to
consider whether it's more advantageous to focus on low-cost containment
measures instead of costly programs with limited chances at success.

"We're not advocating
that everyone seal off these sites and walk away from them," said Alan
Rabideau, UB environmental engineering professor and the team's principal
investigator. "We will examine emerging concepts that focus on long-term
management rather than expensive but ineffective cleanup technologies.

"Our approach will
differ from purely technical assessments by integrating community engagement
with science, engineering, ethics and policy."

Using a three-year,
$796,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, the team will visit sites
to conduct hundreds of hours of interviews with various stakeholders including,
but not limited to, citizens, government and public health officials, and
scientists. The team also will conduct focus groups, phone interviews and
workshops.

They will then use new
database tools to draw inferences and develop a more complete picture of the
sites and their effect on nearby communities.

"There's a human element
that revolves around the idea of value, which can be incorporated into these
projects to bring about more appropriate responses to the challenges presented
by these sites," said Kenneth Shockley, UB associate professor of philosophy,
whose research focuses on environmental values and how they are expressed in
public policy.

In addition to Shockley
and Rabideau, the other research team members are: oral historian Michael
Frisch, research professor of history at UB and director of The Randforce
Associates, a UB spinoff company that provides multi-dimensional indexing for
audio recordings and other services; and Erin Robinson, associate professor of
sociology at Canisius.

The grant, part of an
NSF initiative dubbed INSPIRE, or Integrated NSF Support Promoting Interdisciplinary
Research and Education, will fund two doctoral, one master of science and
several undergraduate students.